US8618956B2 - Method and system for detecting a moving vehicle within a predetermined area - Google Patents

Method and system for detecting a moving vehicle within a predetermined area Download PDF

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US8618956B2
US8618956B2 US12/452,372 US45237207A US8618956B2 US 8618956 B2 US8618956 B2 US 8618956B2 US 45237207 A US45237207 A US 45237207A US 8618956 B2 US8618956 B2 US 8618956B2
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wireless personal
area network
personal area
node device
network node
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US20100203834A1 (en
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Andrea Bragagnini
Elisa Alessio
Maura Santina Turolla
Roberta Manzueto
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Telecom Italia SpA
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Telecom Italia SpA
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B15/00—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points
    • G07B15/06—Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems
    • G07B15/063—Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
    • G08G1/01—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled
    • G08G1/017—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled identifying vehicles
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • G07C5/00—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
    • G07C5/008—Registering or indicating the working of vehicles communicating information to a remotely located station

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a system and method for detecting a moving vehicle within a predetermined area.
  • EP737603 there is known a method and apparatus for identification of stolen vehicles; the identification procedure involves equipping each vehicle with an electronic plate operating without an electrical supply (i.e. passive); the electronic plate may have information written on to it in a form which can be read by electromagnetic waves from a reading device; when irradiated, the electronic plate produces a signal containing the recorded information which may include the serial number; the serial number information may be locked in the electronic plate, but there may be further information which can be modified; this may include the registration number of the vehicle and the name of the insurance company; the information may be read by a pistol-shaped reading device which interrogates the electronic plate for the stored information.
  • an electronic plate operating without an electrical supply (i.e. passive); the electronic plate may have information written on to it in a form which can be read by electromagnetic waves from a reading device; when irradiated, the electronic plate produces a signal containing the recorded information which may include the serial number; the serial number information may be locked in the electronic plate, but there may be further information which can be modified; this
  • the device for the identification of vehicle features essentially comprises an electronic memory circuit which is arranged fixed to the vehicle and which can be read by an external apparatus which is to be connected to the vehicle; the memory is integrated into or onto a segment of the contact element support of a diagnosis socket, which segment is detachable from the latter; a part of a film-chip film circuit can very advantageously be used for this purpose, as is known from the technology and production of electronic credit cards and data cards; the electronic memory is initially written at the factory during the production of the vehicle, and then reflects the original equipment features of the vehicle. In the event of an installation or modification for the special equipment of the vehicle, the contents of the memory can be modified or updated electrically by the apparatus.
  • Telepass Automatic toll systems for highways are also known (called in Italy “Telepass”) based on a radio receiver installed at a toll gate (mains powered) and radio transmitters installed on the vehicles (battery powered); by way of a dedicated radio communication protocol when a vehicle goes through the gate the vehicle identity is transferred from the transmitter to the receiver and a corresponding bill is sent to the vehicle's owner.
  • the detection system should also be an identification system for moving vehicles or for their drivers or owners.
  • the detection system should have a wide range of applications including but not limited to vehicle access check as well as vehicle speed check and vehicle toll and/or parking payments.
  • the detection system should work reliably independent (within certain limits) on the speed of the vehicle to be detected.
  • Power consumption should be extremely reduced especially with regard to any device to be carried by the vehicles so that they can be battery powered and guarantee a long life without maintenance.
  • the Applicant has conceived to install on a moving vehicle to be detected a WPAN node device (advantageously a ZigBee node device) and to install, e.g. on the ground, three WPAN node devices (advantageously three ZigBee node devices) belonging to one WPAN network acting as an electronic gate.
  • WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network
  • PAN Personal Area Network
  • a WPAN network is a PAN network using wireless short-range communication technologies such as Bluetooth
  • a communication technology which may be advantageously used for implementing a WPAN network is ZigBee.
  • One of the three fixed WPAN node devices has a wide radio coverage area and acts as an “exciter” of the vehicle WPAN node device
  • another one of the three fixed WPAN node devices has a wide radio coverage area and acts as the “parent” of the vehicle WPAN node device
  • a further one of the three fixed WPAN node devices has a narrow radio coverage area and acts as a “detector” of the vehicle WPAN node device
  • “exciter” means the fixed device that makes the moving device ready for detection
  • “detector” means the fixed device that carries out the detection of the moving device.
  • the three radio coverage areas are sized and located so that a moving vehicle to be detected enters the area of the “exciter” before entering the area of the “parent” and before entering the area of the “detector”.
  • the “exciter” may contribute to the detection of the vehicle in two different ways: either it allows the vehicle WPAN node device to join the WPAN network timely before detection or it causes the vehicle WPAN node device to reduce its period of intermittent operation, i.e. to awaken more frequently, timely before detection.
  • the vehicle WPAN node device comprises a transceiver having an intermittent operation in order to save power and battery; anyway, this device may be adapted to keep a continuous operation and this is advantageously done during and some time before detection and/or to vary the period of the intermittent operation (or “awakening period”) timely before detection.
  • the fixed WPAN node devices shall typically comprise a respective transceiver having always a continuous operation.
  • the detection of a moving vehicle corresponds at least to the reception of information, in particular vehicle identification information, by the narrow coverage fixed WPAN node device from the vehicle WPAN node device and/or to the reception of a vehicle detection signal by the narrow coverage second fixed WPAN node device from a vehicle sensor, in particular an optical or magnetic sensor.
  • Detection is carried out through a WPAN network communication; thanks to this kind of standard communication, the exchange of information is extremely flexible and this leads also to flexibility of application.
  • the present invention does not exclude that as a consequence of the detection of a moving vehicle a photograph is taken of the detected moving vehicle; in some applications, this may be required by law.
  • a system according to the present invention may consists essentially in a number of WPAN node devices: a moving one and at least three fixed ones.
  • the communication between the three fixed WPAN node devices is advantageously fully wireless type and may be direct or indirect through e.g. one or more WPAN node devices. This is extremely useful and advantageous for installation purposes.
  • system according to the present invention may be connected to other telecommunication networks, either fixed or mobile, in order to exchange information for example information regarding to the detection of vehicles.
  • system according to the present invention may also be used for providing (traffic, parking or commercial) information to the vehicle and/or to a user within the vehicle, in particular its driver.
  • An advantageous way of providing information to a user is by WPAN communication between the vehicle WPAN node device and a WPAN node device connected to or integrated into a user mobile telephone terminal; an advantageous possibility is a mobile phone with a Subscriber Identification Module having an integrated ZigBee interface.
  • FIG. 1 shows schematically the architecture of a system according to the present invention
  • FIG. 2 shows schematically different possible arrangements of the coverage areas of the fixed WPAN node devices in the system of FIG. 1 ,
  • FIG. 3 shows schematically the architecture of a vehicle identification device according to the present invention
  • FIG. 4 shows schematically a possible application organization within the device of FIG. 3 .
  • FIG. 5 shows schematically a flow of communication within the system of FIG. 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 6 shows schematically a flow of communication within the system of FIG. 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 7 shows schematically the architecture of an extension of the system of FIG. 1 with interaction with a user mobile terminal.
  • the architecture of the system of FIG. 1 comprises a first fixed ZigBee node device N 1 covering a first area A 1 which is wide, a second fixed ZigBee node device covering a second area A 2 which is narrow, a third fixed ZigBee node device N 3 covering a third area A 3 which is wide, and a vehicle ZigBee node device VN which is carried by a moving vehicle and therefore is also moving.
  • Nodes N 1 , N 2 and N 3 belong to the same network and are bidirectionally connected together through a wired and/or wireless connection and direct and/or in direct connection; node N 2 is also connected to an external telecommunication networks NTWK, either fixed or mobile; anyway, typically, the wireless connectivity provided by the ZigBee technology is used (see dashed lines with arrows between nodes N 1 and N 3 and between nodes N 2 and N 3 ).
  • Node VN is able to establish wireless ZigBee bidirectional communication with the nodes of the ZigBee network, in particular with nodes N 1 , N 2 and N 3 (see the dashed lines with arrows).
  • FIG. 1 the same vehicle carrying the ZigBee node device is shown in three different positions along its movement (the movement of the vehicle in the figure is from right to left).
  • the system of FIG. 1 comprises also an optical sensor S located and arranged so to detect vehicles within area A 2 ; sensor S is connected, in particular through a wired connection, to node N 2 (this connection is not shown in the figure).
  • the vehicle carries a vehicle identification device which will be called in the following “ZigBee tag”, referenced as ZTAG and which essentially consists of the vehicle ZigBee node device VN.
  • ZTAG can be easily installed on the windshield of a vehicle or above the vehicle dashboard.
  • FIG. 2 shows schematically different possible arrangements of the coverage areas of the fixed WPAN node devices N 1 , N 2 and N 3 in the system of FIG. 1 . It is to be noted these areas have a three-dimensional extension, but due to the fact that the vehicles considered by the present invention travel along existing roads, only one dimension is taken into account; in particular, FIG. 2 refers for simplicity to the case of a rectilinear road even if this is not a limitation of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2A shows a vehicle carrying a ZigBee node device VN and travelling along a rectilinear road from right to left;
  • FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D shows areas A 1 , A 2 and A 3 with respect to this road; in all the three cases, the any vehicle travelling along this road from right to left enters first area A 1 (which may be called the “excitation area”), then area A 3 and finally area A 2 (which may be called the “detection area”).
  • first area A 1 which may be called the “excitation area”
  • area A 2 which may be called the “detection area”.
  • device ZTAG may be realized through a ZigBee radio chip TR, a ZigBee antenna TA and a microcontroller TM embedding e.g. Flash and RAM memories; Flash memory may store firmware and permanent data of the tag (e.g. of the vehicle and/or its owner) while RAM memory stores volatile data.
  • the firmware running on microcontroller TM implements the ZigBee protocol stack as well as the tag applications; the previously listed hardware resources are normally sufficient for the firmware complexity, however, if needed, the device ZTAG can be enlarged with other components like memories and an additional microcontroller.
  • the device ZTAG is power supplied by batteries TB.
  • device ZTAG In normal applications non rechargeable batteries are used, however particular implementations of device ZTAG may be based on rechargeable batteries.
  • the device ZTAG includes also a battery management circuitry BM that allows recharge of the batteries from an external power source, including voltage regulation if necessary.
  • ZTAG cannot be externally reset or reprogrammed, thus avoiding tampering of its functionalities by the user; it can only be programmed during the assembly process; the same applies to permanent data stored in the ZTAG device.
  • an application running on device ZTAG is configured to periodically let the device enter a “stand-by mode” or “sleep mode” and periodically let the device “awaken”, i.e. exit this mode; this particularly applies to the ZigBee radio chip TR and its transceiver which is primarily responsible for power consumption; during stand-by phases the power consumption of device ZTAG, in particular of its radio transceiver, goes to few micro-Amperes thus saving batteries; in this way the device and the transceiver has an intermittent operation characterized by a “period of intermittency” or “stand-by period” or “awakening period”.
  • Device ZTAG exits this mode periodically and looks for a ZigBee network to join, i.e. it carries out a “network polling”. If it finds one, device application starts; otherwise, it goes back to stand-by mode.
  • the network polling period and the stand-by phase duration must be set according to battery capacity, application requirements and expected device life time (without replacing or recharging batteries).
  • Device ZTAG is configured to be a ZigBee end-device or a ZigBee router; in the second case, the device is configured so not to allow association to it (the use of this feature will be explained later).
  • ZTAG device may be programmed with different firmware applications.
  • each firmware application uses a communication entity called endpoint.
  • All ZTAG device endpoints as well as the applications on other devices wishing to communicate with ZTAG device use a unique ZigBee application profile.
  • each ZTAG device endpoint uses two different clusters, the first for input communication and the second for output communication.
  • a device wishing to communicate with ZTAG device has to implement an application with an input cluster matching ZTAG device output cluster and the output cluster matching ZTAG device input cluster.
  • Three applications of three other devices DEV- 1 , DEV- 2 , DEV- 3 whish to communicate with the three applications of ZTAG device; the endpoints of the three applications of the three external device are referenced in the figure as EP- 1 , EP- 2 , EP- 3 .
  • the main purpose of ZTAG device described above is the detection and/or identification of the vehicle in order to perform some kinds of checks on the moving vehicles e.g. access check on city entrance roads.
  • ZTAG device can replace e.g. such non-electronic tags.
  • ZTAG device may store information related to the latest gas emission check; moreover, it can store other information related to the vehicle that can be used for improved access control policy (e.g. the size of the vehicle, the size of the engine, whether it is gasoline or diesel, etc.).
  • the access check is done by an electronic fixed device that embeds a ZigBee node device (typically including a microcontroller, a radio chip and an antenna); in the case of FIG. 1 , such device is node N 2 and may be called the “detector”.
  • a ZigBee node device typically including a microcontroller, a radio chip and an antenna
  • node N 2 node N 2 and may be called the “detector”.
  • the fixed node device, N 2 in the example of FIG. 1 , and the moving node device, VN in the example of FIG. 1 are designed so that become part of the same ZigBee network and thus communicate.
  • the same fixed device, N 2 in the example of FIG. 1 may be also able to communicate over a public telecommunication network (fixed and/or mobile) and therefore may behave as a gateway between the ZigBee network and the telecommunication network; this may allow to transmit e.g. transits data to dedicated servers and to receive e.g. reconfiguration information (e.g. new access policies) of the gateway itself if needed.
  • a public telecommunication network fixed and/or mobile
  • reconfiguration information e.g. new access policies
  • the “detector” node may be provided or associated to a camera system able to take pictures of e.g. violating vehicles; in fact, these pictures may be used as legal evidence when fining owners of the violating vehicles.
  • the “detector” node N 2 communicate with node VN on the vehicle when the vehicle transits under it and, if needed, a picture is taken; the need to take the picture derives from the communication between nodes N 2 and VN; more specifically, node N 2 receives from node VN on the vehicle information that are used in order to decide whether to take a picture or not.
  • a directive antenna that covers a narrow (preferably very narrow) area, A 2 in the example of FIGS. 1 and 2 , under the node itself.
  • the radio area coverage may be advantageously dimensioned according to a typical vehicle size (e.g. from 1 to 5 meters, typically 2 or 3 meters).
  • the communication with VN node shall be established immediately when the vehicle enters the radio coverage A 2 of node N 2 .
  • This can be achieved for example by installing at the road level a fixed sensor, S in the example of FIG. 1 , able to detect a transiting vehicle (e.g. a photoelectric sensor or a magnetic sensor).
  • Sensor S is connected to node N 2 and when the vehicle transit detection occurs, a vehicle detection signal is sent from sensor S to node N 2 , is received by node N 2 and node N 2 try to establish a communication with node VN on the vehicle.
  • t is equal to 154 ms.
  • the vehicle detection device comprising the vehicle WPAN node device to frequently poll for a WPAN network, i.e. for a fixed WPAN node device; therefore, the “period of intermittency” would be very short and this would lead to a high power consumption and a short life of the batteries of the vehicle detection device. Moreover, such short transit time would not permit the moving vehicle ZigBee node device VN to successfully join the “detector” fixed ZigBee node device N 2 and communicate with it (typical ZigBee association time is around 500 ms).
  • the present invention teaches to use another fixed WPAN (in the example of FIG. 1 , ZigBee) node device that acts as an “exciter”; in the example of FIG. 1 , the “exciter” fixed node device is the ZigBee node device N 1 .
  • Node device N 1 is installed upstream node device N 2 with respect to the direction of movement of the moving vehicles to be detected; the direction of movement is typically a road, e.g. a city road.
  • Node device N 1 has wide radio coverage area A 1 (e.g. up to 80 m) and may be provided with omni-directional antenna.
  • the role of “exciter” node device N 1 is to make the moving node device VN ready for detection so that the “detector” node device N 2 would succeed to detect and identify the moving node device VN.
  • ZTAG device comprising node device VN polls for a ZigBee network and finds an “exciter” node device, it prepares to communicate with the ZigBee network and accomplish all the needed operations.
  • the “period of intermittency” is must be calculated considering the time spent by a vehicle under the “exciter” node device and an application time to that includes the polling time and may (in some of the embodiments of the present invention) also include the time required for association to and dissociation from the ZigBee network.
  • the method according to the present invention serves for detecting a moving vehicle within a predetermined area by means of at least a first fixed WPAN node device, i.e. ZigBee node N 1 in the example of FIG. 1 , and a second fixed WPAN node device, i.e. ZigBee node N 2 in the example of FIG. 1 , and a third fixed WPAN node device, i.e. ZigBee node N 3 in the example of FIG. 1 ; the moving vehicle carries a vehicle WPAN node device, i.e. ZigBee node VN in the example of FIG.
  • a first fixed WPAN node device i.e. ZigBee node N 1 in the example of FIG. 1
  • a second fixed WPAN node device i.e. ZigBee node N 2 in the example of FIG. 1
  • a third fixed WPAN node device i.e. ZigBee node N 3 in the example of
  • nodes N 1 and N 2 and N 3 belong to one and the same WPAN network and node VN is designed to join this network;
  • node N 1 covers a first wide area, A 1 in the example of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2
  • node N 2 covers a second narrow (or very narrow) area, A 2 in the example of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , corresponding to the predetermined area where detection is desired
  • node N 3 covers a third wide area, A 3 in the example of FIG. 1 and FIG.
  • said first and second and third areas are sized and located so that a vehicle to be detected enters the area A 1 of the “exciter” N 1 before entering area A 3 of node N 3 and before entering the area A 2 of the “detector” N 2 .
  • the method comprises in general the steps of:
  • the detection of the moving vehicle within said predetermined area may correspond simply to the reception of said information by node N 2 (step C).
  • the information transmitted at step C may comprise vehicle identification information and/or other vehicle information (including e.g. the identity of its owner); in this case, the detection of the moving vehicle within said predetermined area, i.e. area A 2 , may correspond additionally to the reception of said vehicle information by node N 2 so it is a detection with electronic automatic identification.
  • the vehicle node VN typically uses a transceiver having an intermittent operation for communicating with other ZigBee node devices of the ZigBee network.
  • a sensor S in the example of FIG. 1 , is provided for detecting vehicles within area A 2 and if this sensor is connected to node N 2 in order to transmit vehicle detection signals to it, the detection of the moving vehicle within said predetermined area, i.e. area A 2 , may correspond additionally to the reception of a vehicle detection signal by node N 2 from the sensor.
  • This sensor may be used to determine the exact instant for taking a photograph to the vehicle.
  • sensor S may be used to signal to node N 2 the best time for transmitting over the air e.g. a “broadcast request” asking for “vehicle data” to node VN.
  • the third fixed ZigBee node device N 3 that acts also as a “hop” node in the sense that communication between node N 1 and node N 2 is wireless type and passes through node N 3 .
  • node N 3 In order to realize a radio communication between nodes N 1 and N 2 node N 3 is used; node N 3 is located at a location covered by both node N 1 and node N 2 for example below node N 2 ; node N 3 has preferably a wide radio coverage area through e.g. an omni-directional antenna. If necessary, more than one node may be used for allowing radio communication between the “exciter” node and the “detector” node; this may depend on the geographical situation where the system according to the present invention is installed.
  • bidirectional Wireless communication between the various nodes of the ZigBee network are represented by dashed lines with arrows.
  • FIG. 1 may be used for implementing two different embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 5 shows schematically a flow of communication within the system of FIG. 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 5 the same vehicle carrying the ZigBee node device is shown in four different positions along its movement (the movement of the vehicle in the figure is from right to left).
  • vehicle node VN prepares to join the ZigBee network through node N 3 by “pre-joining” the network through the “exciter” node N 1 .
  • the “pre-join” requires association to the network and is a lengthy process (and it is done timely before detection) while the “re-join” does not require association and therefore is quick.
  • the “exciter” node i.e. node N 1
  • the “detector” node i.e. node N 2
  • the “hop” node, node N 3 are configured as router.
  • the “tag” node i.e. node VN on the moving vehicle, is also configured as a router.
  • the gate WPAN network uses a predetermined radio channel (“gate radio channel”) to allow the ZigBee “tag” node to perform a ZigBee network scan on a single channel, thus saving time. Since the network capacity is limited it's important that the “tag” node leaves the network after having communicated with the “detector” node in order to free network resources for other “tag” nodes on other moving vehicles.
  • the “tag” node periodically exits stand-by mode and looks for a network; this is done sending a “beacon request” on the gate radio channel; if there's no reply within e.g. 15 ms the “tag” node assumes that no network is present and goes back to stand-by mode.
  • 2 According to the “tag” node VN position in the gate zone both the “hop” node N 3 and the “exciter” N 1 or one of them sends a “beacon reply” to the “tag” node VN.
  • the “tag” node, according to known ZigBee mechanisms chooses a device to join with and performs the association procedure.
  • the “tag” node broadcasts a ZigBee end_device_announce message to communicate its physical (MAC) address; if the “tag” node associates with the “hop” node the flow continues with the following step 10 , otherwise it continues with the step 5 below.
  • 5 The “exciter” node sends a “direct_join” request message to the “hop” node N 3 with the tag MAC address; this allows the “hop” node that is a router to become “parent” of the “tag” node.
  • 6 The “exciter” node sends a “leave request” message to the “tag” node VN to force it leaving the association with the “exciter” node.
  • the “tag” node VN performs a “leave” operation.
  • 8 After leaving the network the “tag” node starts the “orphan” procedure to look for its “parent” in the ZigBee network.
  • 9 Thanks to the “direct_join” request the “hop” node N 3 behaves as the tag parent and responds to the “orphan request”; the “tag” node is already associated to the network and quickly joins the network (without association) through the “hop” node N 3 .
  • the “detector” node N 2 is able to perform, if requested by the service, a check on vehicle transit, e.g. for vehicle transit authorization. If the vehicle is authorized to transit nothing is done, otherwise the “detector” node takes a picture of the vehicle plate.
  • node VN keeps its transceiver continuously operative from the time of association to node N 1 till the time of dissociation from any node of the ZigBee network, in particular node N 3 .
  • FIG. 6 shows schematically a flow of communication within the system of FIG. 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 6 the same vehicle carrying the ZigBee node device is shown in four different positions along its movement (the movement of the vehicle in the figure is from right to left).
  • vehicle node VN prepares to join the ZigBee network by reducing the “intermittency period” as soon as it discovers the ZigBee network through the reply by the “exciter” node N 1 .
  • the “join” operation to the ZigBee network through node N 3 requires association to the network (and is a lengthy process) but it is done timely before detection as the vehicle node VN repeats association attempts very frequently.
  • N 1 may be configured as a router and N 3 as a coordinator.
  • the “exciter” node N 1 even if the “exciter” node N 1 replies to a “beacon request” by the vehicle node VN, the “exciter” node N 1 doesn't allow association to it. Its role is simply to prepare the “tag” for detection and change its “intermittency period”. After the “tag” recognizes the presence of an “exciter”, thanks to its beacon reply, it assumes that the it's approaching the “hop” node N 3 and the “detector” node N 2 (i.e. the detection gate) and thus reduces its period in order to quickly associate with the “hop” node.
  • the resulting communication flow may be as follows (reference to numerical references in FIG. 6 ):
  • step 3 If the “tag” node only detects the “exciter” beacon reply flow goes to step 3 below, otherwise it continues with the following step 5 .
  • 3 The “tag” node VN starts sending periodical “beacon request”, with a high repetition rate. 4 : When the “tag” node VN is close enough to the “hop” node this sends a “beacon reply” with the association flag set to TRUE. 5 : On reception of the “hop” beacon reply the “tag” node associates to the “hop” node.
  • node VN keeps its transceiver continuously operative from the time of association to node N 3 till the time of dissociation from any node of the ZigBee network, in particular node N 3 .
  • Such additional communication may advantageously take place when the vehicle transits within the detection area according to the present invention.
  • information may be transmitted by node N 2 , i.e. the “detector”, to node VN, i.e. the “tag”, at the time detection (during step C); the information may relate to traffic, parking or any kind of information; the information may be directed to the vehicle or to the user, in particular its driver.
  • transmission may be carried out by another node of the WPAN network, for example node N 3 , connected to the “detector” node N 2 and able to or dedicated to this function; in this case, such transmission may be carried out during the time when the “tag” node NV is associated to the WPAN network.
  • the application described above may be improved by adding a communication protocol between the “tag” node and a user mobile telephone terminal (for example a mobile phone) to provide the user with access to information sent e.g. by the “detector” node.
  • the user terminal may be equipped with a ZigBee interface with an application organized as the one depicted by DEV- 2 device of FIG. 3 and the “tag” node may be equipped with an application as the one depicted by EPY in FIG. 4 ; ZigBee interface may be advantageously integrated in a Subscriber Identification Module fit within the mobile phone terminal.
  • the tag and the user terminal may thus communicate and all relevant information may be provided to the user by means, for instance, of a text message.
  • Relevant information may be provided e.g. by the “detector” node N 2 (which is a gateway node in the above described embodiment) e.g. in step 12 of FIG. 5 .
  • the “detector” node N 2 which is a gateway node in the above described embodiment
  • other information may be provided by the “detector” node to the “tag” node such as city traffic information, parking location and so on (for example commercial information in general).
  • a ZigBee network may be established between the tag and the user terminal; as there must be a coordinator in order to form a ZigBee network, and as the “tag” node is already configured as a router, the user terminal Zigbee interface may be configured as coordinator.
  • the “tag” node should be avoided.
  • the “tag” node is still within the radio coverage area of the “hop” node N 3 and eventually within the coverage area of the “exciter” node N 1 too; so in principle the “tag” node might associate to either of these two nodes and join the gate network.
  • the gate network identifier (defined in the ZigBee technology as the “PAN ID” [Personal Area Network identifier]) is stored in the “tag” node.
  • FIG. 7 shows schematically the architecture of an extension of the system of FIG. 1 wherein a user mobile terminal UT is present within the vehicle and is connected to the vehicle “tag” node VN.
  • the communication flow (relating only to the added device) might be as follows (step numbers start from 14 in order not to be confused with the steps described above):
  • the “tag” node VN periodically exits stand-by mode and look for a ZigBee network; this is done sending a “beacon request”; if there is no reply within e.g. 15 ms the “tag” node assumes that no network is present and goes back to stand-by mode.
  • the “tag” node compares the PAN ID of the beacon replies with the stored gate PAN ID, chooses the user terminal PAN ID, and according to known ZigBee mechanisms performs an association procedure.
  • a logical channel is created between endpoint EPY on the “tag” node and EP- 2 endpoint on the user terminal node, i.e. node device DEV- 2 ; this is done using known ZigBee mechanisms such “Match_description” functions or “bind” procedures.
  • the “tag” node VN automatically sends relevant information to the ZigBee node of the user mobile terminal UT.
  • the “tag” node leaves the ZigBee network of the user mobile terminal UT.
  • the steps relating to the communication between the “tag” and the “user terminal” may be arranged in different way and thus partially overlap (in time) with the steps relating to the communication between the “tag” and the nodes of the “gate” WPAN network (i.e. nodes N 1 , N 2 and N 3 in the figures) according to the first or second embodiment of the present invention; therefore, they might be integrated into a single sequence of steps covering both kinds of communication.
  • the “tag” node may restarts the procedure.
  • the wait time may be set so to allow the vehicle to leave the gate zone and therefore next WPAN network found will not be the already-joined gate WPAN network.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
  • Traffic Control Systems (AREA)
  • Geophysics And Detection Of Objects (AREA)
US12/452,372 2007-06-28 2007-06-28 Method and system for detecting a moving vehicle within a predetermined area Active 2029-12-28 US8618956B2 (en)

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US20100203834A1 (en) 2010-08-12
KR20100053525A (ko) 2010-05-20
ES2360450T3 (es) 2011-06-06
ATE497228T1 (de) 2011-02-15
CN101816022A (zh) 2010-08-25
EP2171691A1 (en) 2010-04-07
WO2009000301A1 (en) 2008-12-31
CN101816022B (zh) 2012-03-28
KR101376650B1 (ko) 2014-04-01

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